WEBVTT - Transforming Pain into Purpose 0:00:04.813 --> 0:00:14.933 Comeback Stories is a production of Inflection Network and iHeartRadio. 0:00:15.893 --> 0:00:18.413 Welcome back, everyone to another episode of come Back Stories. 0:00:18.733 --> 0:00:21.253 Your co host Darren Waller joined with my brother, my friend, 0:00:21.613 --> 0:00:23.413 mister Donnie Starkins. Donnie, how we doing today? 0:00:23.413 --> 0:00:25.053 Bro? Doing great? 0:00:25.253 --> 0:00:27.253 Excited for this one, hyped up? 0:00:27.653 --> 0:00:30.133 Oh yeah, this is a big time guest. If you 0:00:30.773 --> 0:00:32.613 don't know who this man is, you are in for 0:00:32.813 --> 0:00:35.253 a treat and for a pleasure. A man who I 0:00:35.293 --> 0:00:40.893 see as one of the top motivational speakers of this generation. Author, 0:00:41.733 --> 0:00:44.813 a coach, a husband, father, I mean, a man that 0:00:44.853 --> 0:00:47.373 can't be put in one box, and we're just honored 0:00:47.413 --> 0:00:50.053 to have his time, have his voice, and to feel 0:00:50.053 --> 0:00:52.053 his impact on the show. Today we got mister William 0:00:52.133 --> 0:00:54.333 King Hollis in the building, Man King, how you doing? 0:00:55.053 --> 0:00:55.453 You doing? 0:00:55.573 --> 0:00:58.293 Darren Man and Donnie man Is, Like I tell you, 0:00:58.333 --> 0:01:00.333 told you guys, it's been a dream of mine to 0:01:00.373 --> 0:01:03.413 come on this podcast and to have a great conversation 0:01:03.533 --> 0:01:04.013 with you guys. 0:01:04.053 --> 0:01:05.653 You guys do a lot, which I. 0:01:05.933 --> 0:01:09.893 You know, on mental health specifically that really touches my heart. 0:01:09.933 --> 0:01:13.493 I've been there multiple times in my life and it's 0:01:13.533 --> 0:01:16.453 just always a blessing to see individuals that. 0:01:17.533 --> 0:01:21.493 Pread coming back from some of the darkest hours of 0:01:21.533 --> 0:01:22.013 our life. 0:01:22.053 --> 0:01:22.253 Man. 0:01:22.333 --> 0:01:24.173 So, like I said, this is my honor to be 0:01:24.253 --> 0:01:24.893 on here today. 0:01:25.613 --> 0:01:28.413 Absolutely, man, this is something that all three of us 0:01:28.533 --> 0:01:31.733 not only can relate to, but we embody and we've 0:01:31.813 --> 0:01:34.453 lived the triumphs and the pain of it, and we 0:01:34.493 --> 0:01:36.933 know it starts very early on, at least in our lives. 0:01:36.973 --> 0:01:38.813 And we'd like to know what was Keep paint a 0:01:38.813 --> 0:01:40.253 picture for what growing up was like for you. 0:01:41.093 --> 0:01:44.173 Yeah, man, it was like a lot of inner city kids. 0:01:44.173 --> 0:01:46.333 When I grew up in the city called Pontiac, Michigan. 0:01:47.173 --> 0:01:51.053 My mother, like I said, she basically my grandmother, moved 0:01:51.053 --> 0:01:57.053 from Monroe, Louisiana, and basically start running numbers. She had 0:01:57.573 --> 0:02:03.293 twelve children, started to cook crack cocaine and taught all 0:02:03.613 --> 0:02:06.213 twelve of those dren how to do the same, include 0:02:06.213 --> 0:02:08.733 my mother. So I was in a house that basically 0:02:08.853 --> 0:02:12.293 was like a gladiator school for teaching people. 0:02:11.973 --> 0:02:13.693 How to cook crack and say o crack. 0:02:15.613 --> 0:02:18.413 But one thing about it with me, King, I always 0:02:18.573 --> 0:02:23.453 noticed that, you know, our life wasn't normal. So you know, 0:02:24.293 --> 0:02:27.253 but as you stay in it long enough, it began 0:02:27.453 --> 0:02:29.813 to get normal to you and you adopt some of 0:02:29.853 --> 0:02:33.173 those same traits, some of those same anger issues, some 0:02:33.293 --> 0:02:37.213 of those same addictions. And I'm just blessed that God 0:02:37.293 --> 0:02:42.373 gave me the strength to always see more than my circumstances. 0:02:42.413 --> 0:02:45.813 My mother ended up moving out at fourteen years old, 0:02:45.893 --> 0:02:47.173 started selling drugs. 0:02:46.853 --> 0:02:50.933 In her own own place. She had me at sixteen 0:02:51.013 --> 0:02:54.853 years old, had my sister at fifteen, and she was 0:02:54.893 --> 0:02:59.533 molested as a child, so she eventually never healed from national. 0:02:59.653 --> 0:03:03.013 She eventually started to use heroin that. 0:03:04.613 --> 0:03:07.653 You know, the crazy thing about it is I never 0:03:07.733 --> 0:03:11.773 could notice until I became an older young man. She 0:03:11.853 --> 0:03:14.693 did a great job of covering it up, covering it up, 0:03:14.733 --> 0:03:19.013 and you know, it just showed her strength to to 0:03:19.013 --> 0:03:21.653 to just keep fighting and and and that's why I 0:03:21.693 --> 0:03:26.213 got a heart for, you know, the woman in general. Uh, 0:03:26.373 --> 0:03:29.253 because as I go around the country speaking, I meet 0:03:29.293 --> 0:03:32.053 a lot of young young women man that that that's 0:03:32.053 --> 0:03:35.853 been molested and never got the help, never got the therapy, 0:03:36.413 --> 0:03:38.853 and they turned into something that they're really not. 0:03:39.853 --> 0:03:40.933 But to get back to my. 0:03:41.013 --> 0:03:44.733 Story, Kade, Yeah, it was it was absolutely chaos, chaos 0:03:44.773 --> 0:03:45.973 that that I was living in. 0:03:46.413 --> 0:03:49.373 But I always I used to say, when I was 0:03:49.413 --> 0:03:49.973 a young kid. 0:03:50.053 --> 0:03:52.773 Man, I used to walk outside in the projects, and 0:03:52.853 --> 0:03:54.533 I used to always look up to the sky. 0:03:54.613 --> 0:03:54.773 Man. 0:03:54.773 --> 0:03:57.413 I was always I never looked down. I always looked 0:03:57.413 --> 0:03:59.693 to the sky because I never liked the picture that 0:03:59.813 --> 0:04:04.173 was on the ground, the streets, the gangsters, the drug addicts, 0:04:05.493 --> 0:04:08.573 just the chaos that was going on. And always seeing 0:04:08.653 --> 0:04:12.733 that sky man, and I always realized that the world 0:04:12.773 --> 0:04:15.973 is so big, man, and I can change my life 0:04:16.333 --> 0:04:19.613 if I give it everything I got for my life. 0:04:19.853 --> 0:04:22.133 And I understood that at a very young age. 0:04:22.173 --> 0:04:24.893 Man, I always knew that the life that I was 0:04:24.933 --> 0:04:29.733 living was not normal, and I would never accept that. 0:04:30.053 --> 0:04:34.573 For my family, my wife, my son, my children. I 0:04:34.813 --> 0:04:35.933 just always wanted more. 0:04:36.733 --> 0:04:36.813 Uh. 0:04:36.973 --> 0:04:40.293 My father got incarcerated the first time, he had to 0:04:40.333 --> 0:04:44.413 do six years when I was about, say, about seven 0:04:44.533 --> 0:04:47.573 or eight years old. Missed him for a long time, 0:04:47.653 --> 0:04:50.253 and then he got another three years after that, and 0:04:50.493 --> 0:04:53.773 it's firing to a year of a crime. Then I 0:04:53.893 --> 0:04:57.133 ended up having to move back and forth, bouncing, you know, 0:04:57.333 --> 0:05:00.093 a minute for a foster home and then bouncing into 0:05:00.173 --> 0:05:04.853 my grandmother's house. So they finally took us in. To 0:05:04.933 --> 0:05:06.613 be honest with you, man, I went through a lot 0:05:06.653 --> 0:05:10.693 of a lot of a lot of tearing down. You know, 0:05:10.933 --> 0:05:14.093 a lot a lot of uh uh you know, jokes 0:05:14.133 --> 0:05:17.573 from cousins. You know, your mom's a crackhead, your father's 0:05:17.613 --> 0:05:21.813 in jail. You're gonna be just like your father and uh. Man, 0:05:21.973 --> 0:05:26.213 I tell everybody, I give God all the glory for 0:05:26.333 --> 0:05:28.933 the man that I am and who I am, because 0:05:29.053 --> 0:05:31.293 through all the pain, through all the thing that was 0:05:31.293 --> 0:05:34.293 supposed to make me angry, God always kept love in 0:05:34.373 --> 0:05:34.813 my heart. 0:05:35.053 --> 0:05:37.173 And that's the only thing that I wanted to exude. 0:05:38.133 --> 0:05:41.373 I realized that, you know, the richest man in the 0:05:41.453 --> 0:05:44.293 world is not really the man that has millions of 0:05:44.333 --> 0:05:46.653 dollars in the bank account. Man, it's the man that 0:05:46.893 --> 0:05:49.853 that comes home to a family. Since that's derriertable with 0:05:49.933 --> 0:05:54.493 his children, teaches his son how to go further, which 0:05:54.573 --> 0:05:58.533 is basically the real definition of father. And and that's 0:05:58.573 --> 0:06:01.333 what I wake up every single day to do. 0:06:01.533 --> 0:06:01.693 Man. 0:06:01.773 --> 0:06:04.333 And hey, I want to I want to hop in 0:06:04.533 --> 0:06:06.813 and asked you like, through all these peaks and valleys, 0:06:06.853 --> 0:06:11.653 through not only your personal life, through physically, through football, 0:06:11.893 --> 0:06:16.573 mentally with your family, your situation and football, like I'm 0:06:16.613 --> 0:06:18.533 seeing all these things, like, was there ever a moment 0:06:19.733 --> 0:06:22.093 in all of this where you realized that you had 0:06:22.093 --> 0:06:24.293 a gift for speaking, or was this like after your 0:06:24.293 --> 0:06:25.253 football career ended? 0:06:25.373 --> 0:06:25.693 This was? 0:06:25.853 --> 0:06:29.293 This was after I was it was after the football career. 0:06:29.613 --> 0:06:33.333 So basically King, I ended up cracking my l one 0:06:33.453 --> 0:06:36.573 vertebrate uh down. And when I when I got the 0:06:36.613 --> 0:06:39.813 wrong Georgia, I ended up playing one game. Then I 0:06:39.893 --> 0:06:41.613 had a mini stroke. I had to play in the 0:06:41.693 --> 0:06:43.493 game because if you didn't play, they put you out 0:06:43.533 --> 0:06:45.493 the house. So I played the worst game. My life 0:06:45.533 --> 0:06:49.453 got cut. The mother and my child called me and 0:06:49.853 --> 0:06:52.013 it was like, will are you okay? And I said, 0:06:52.333 --> 0:06:54.333 I'm doing the best. At this point, we not together 0:06:54.453 --> 0:06:57.533 no more. The distance it broke everything up. And uh, 0:06:58.133 --> 0:07:01.773 you know, I said, no, I need a ticket to Printing, 0:07:01.813 --> 0:07:04.373 New Jersey. So it's getting closer to how to speak. 0:07:04.413 --> 0:07:07.493 It started. I go to Trenton, New Jersey. I got 0:07:07.533 --> 0:07:10.653 a one way bus ticket about twenty. 0:07:10.453 --> 0:07:13.373 Dollars to my name. I got nothing all the way. 0:07:13.893 --> 0:07:15.773 The flight was from Rome, Georgia all the way to. 0:07:16.093 --> 0:07:16.973 Trenton, New Jersey. 0:07:17.933 --> 0:07:20.653 Trenton Freedom was the team owned by these millionaires that 0:07:20.773 --> 0:07:22.893 specialize on solar pattern and all that stuff. 0:07:23.213 --> 0:07:26.173 But they brung me in. I had a tryout. I 0:07:26.293 --> 0:07:26.933 made the team. 0:07:27.413 --> 0:07:29.253 Next day, I was in a hotel and they had 0:07:29.493 --> 0:07:33.173 all the restaurants. I mean, I felt like I was rigiating, 0:07:33.173 --> 0:07:35.733 even about the money. It was like I'm eating square meals. 0:07:36.013 --> 0:07:40.053 So when I get there, I dominate break the single 0:07:40.373 --> 0:07:43.213 game sack record on Mother's Day. And after that game, 0:07:43.253 --> 0:07:45.933 I see some of the CFL scouts, So I'm thinking 0:07:45.933 --> 0:07:47.853 I'm getting ready to go to the CFL. Get my 0:07:47.933 --> 0:07:51.293 opportunity to go over there, and boom, at the end 0:07:51.293 --> 0:07:54.053 of the season, I don't get the call from the scouts. 0:07:54.973 --> 0:07:57.053 I go to a workout with one of the Toronto 0:07:57.253 --> 0:08:00.893 Argonaut scouts and he basically said, the coach at Trenton 0:08:00.933 --> 0:08:04.813 Freedom said that you had mental health issues. He used 0:08:04.853 --> 0:08:08.133 my past story to tell him that he's not mentally 0:08:08.253 --> 0:08:10.813 ready to go because he wanted to secure a bigger 0:08:10.893 --> 0:08:13.453 contract for him to move up to a higher level 0:08:14.613 --> 0:08:16.213 in the rental league, so he used me. 0:08:16.253 --> 0:08:16.773 As a pond. 0:08:16.813 --> 0:08:20.373 I found that out, cuss his ass out, and once 0:08:20.413 --> 0:08:24.053 again I'm back homeless. So I go to Dover, Delaware 0:08:24.093 --> 0:08:27.293 with a teammate after the season, and you know, I'm 0:08:27.333 --> 0:08:29.253 bouncing house to house and then the coach that I 0:08:29.293 --> 0:08:32.133 broke the single game sack record, Bernie Bernie Northtowski. 0:08:32.613 --> 0:08:33.893 He actually was on. 0:08:34.213 --> 0:08:37.213 Facebook getting a blood infusion and he saw my post 0:08:37.333 --> 0:08:40.893 on Facebook, like, man, life is so tiring. I said, 0:08:40.893 --> 0:08:42.813 I don't think I ever played ball again. And he 0:08:42.933 --> 0:08:45.053 was like, I got a team for you, harrisburg Stampe 0:08:45.253 --> 0:08:48.973 Marcus Coasting. Team down here Hersheypa. He brings me down 0:08:49.053 --> 0:08:52.853 to Hersheypa. I'm in a gym doing the workout. My 0:08:52.973 --> 0:08:54.533 whole right side go out on me. 0:08:54.813 --> 0:08:55.653 I go to the doctor. 0:08:55.693 --> 0:08:57.733 They say, will you got an air one vertebrate crack? 0:08:58.173 --> 0:09:01.053 You basically can't play football no more. I never tell 0:09:01.093 --> 0:09:03.933 a coach this is where God come in. He comes 0:09:03.973 --> 0:09:06.693 in now getting closer to the speech. He comes in 0:09:07.213 --> 0:09:09.013 and and the coach cast me one day and be like, 0:09:09.013 --> 0:09:11.693 will Marcus Coaster is folding the team. He's canceling up 0:09:11.733 --> 0:09:14.413 the season. He no longer wants to invest in the team. 0:09:14.653 --> 0:09:16.653 He's gonna shut the team down. So if I would 0:09:16.653 --> 0:09:18.653 have went in that season and I probably wouldn't even 0:09:18.693 --> 0:09:20.773 be talking to I've probably been a para believe it 0:09:20.933 --> 0:09:24.893 or something. And Uh, I told coach about my injury. 0:09:25.213 --> 0:09:28.173 He moved me into his apartment. I mean not his apartment, 0:09:28.213 --> 0:09:31.653 his house with his wife and his three kids. I'm 0:09:31.693 --> 0:09:34.453 the only black guy down in the reading pa in 0:09:34.533 --> 0:09:39.253 his neighborhood. I'm basically staying in the basement until he said, hey, 0:09:39.293 --> 0:09:41.013 will you want to coach the D line with this 0:09:41.133 --> 0:09:44.093 Arena team. I got down here and and and read 0:09:44.173 --> 0:09:46.733 and I said, for sure. I was like that, that'll 0:09:46.773 --> 0:09:48.613 be honor. And that's when I learned the power of coaching. 0:09:48.693 --> 0:09:51.693 It's a beautiful, beautiful thing to watch people, you know, 0:09:51.853 --> 0:09:54.413 do what you teach. So one day I was speaking 0:09:54.453 --> 0:09:57.893 to the players on the sideline and and I had 0:09:57.933 --> 0:09:59.733 already I was getting ready to I was moving out 0:09:59.773 --> 0:10:01.493 of Coach nortowsky basement. 0:10:01.813 --> 0:10:03.573 Just didn't want to be a burd into the family. 0:10:03.733 --> 0:10:06.453 Ain't of that anymore. So I go into the hotel 0:10:06.533 --> 0:10:08.813 rooms with the players. Sometimes a player will leave with 0:10:08.973 --> 0:10:11.813 a lady or a woman or anything like that. And 0:10:12.533 --> 0:10:14.453 one particular day I had to sleep on side of 0:10:14.493 --> 0:10:18.213 the Turkey Yo gas station. I'm sleeping on something. I'm 0:10:18.253 --> 0:10:22.053 telling basically relaxing, I can call it relaxing. I'm sitting 0:10:22.093 --> 0:10:24.133 on side of the Turkey Yo gas station and it's 0:10:24.173 --> 0:10:24.933 early in the morning. 0:10:24.973 --> 0:10:28.613 I get up and the teacher that saw me talking 0:10:28.653 --> 0:10:33.973 to the Kings at the game said, basically, I would 0:10:34.053 --> 0:10:35.853 love for you to come speak to my young man 0:10:35.933 --> 0:10:37.493 the way you spoke to those young men. 0:10:37.893 --> 0:10:40.493 And I said, why not. You know, I got you. 0:10:40.573 --> 0:10:41.093 I could be there. 0:10:41.093 --> 0:10:43.453 The school was right down the road. So I got 0:10:43.573 --> 0:10:47.573 up and probably around twelve thirty and went down there 0:10:47.613 --> 0:10:49.813 to the school. I spoke to five young men within 0:10:49.893 --> 0:10:52.413 five minutes, and he was in tears at this point. 0:10:52.493 --> 0:10:55.413 It was the first time talking about my story and 0:10:55.533 --> 0:10:57.893 it broke me down. And people will be surprised by 0:10:57.973 --> 0:11:02.093 telling your story. Just speaking your story out loud, it'll overwhelm, 0:11:02.133 --> 0:11:03.573 it'll make you emotional. 0:11:04.053 --> 0:11:05.893 And I was walking back to the hotel. I had 0:11:05.893 --> 0:11:07.533 a four or five in my bag. 0:11:07.613 --> 0:11:10.133 I was about to go into Abraham Lincoln Hotel and 0:11:10.213 --> 0:11:14.533 committed suicide in the bathroom. About five sets before I 0:11:14.613 --> 0:11:16.933 got to the hotel, I got a call from Miss Robinson. 0:11:17.333 --> 0:11:19.893 Cheryl Robinson. Shout out to Cheryl Robinson. She said, will 0:11:19.933 --> 0:11:22.813 how much he charged to speak? I knew nothing about speaking, 0:11:24.293 --> 0:11:27.853 and I said seventy five one hundred dollars or something 0:11:27.973 --> 0:11:32.453 like that. So basically I went to the hotel and 0:11:32.533 --> 0:11:34.493 I went to the computer room. I typed in in 0:11:34.573 --> 0:11:37.853 motivational speaking. They nothing about it. Les Brown popped up 0:11:38.493 --> 0:11:40.693 man this man. I seen him speaking in the Georgia Dome. 0:11:40.773 --> 0:11:43.253 I saw he talked about his painting, kept a smile 0:11:43.293 --> 0:11:44.893 on his face. I just just like we used to 0:11:44.933 --> 0:11:47.613 watch when we was literally watch football videos. I studied 0:11:47.653 --> 0:11:50.893 this whole monnerism, but I just was myself and just 0:11:50.973 --> 0:11:54.653 took pieces of what he had and used my story. 0:11:55.293 --> 0:11:56.853 And I went into the assembly. 0:11:57.493 --> 0:12:01.373 A week later, I got my one hundred dollars first 0:12:01.453 --> 0:12:03.893 of being paid, got a standing ovation. 0:12:04.133 --> 0:12:04.293 King. 0:12:04.573 --> 0:12:08.293 Every five hundred students, every single student came down and 0:12:08.373 --> 0:12:09.333 shook my hand. 0:12:09.333 --> 0:12:12.133 Cried tears, and that was the moment I realized that 0:12:13.053 --> 0:12:14.853 this was my gift the whole time. 0:12:15.533 --> 0:12:22.173 And you fast forward, you know, ten years later, over 0:12:22.253 --> 0:12:24.333 one point three billion views on YouTube. 0:12:24.453 --> 0:12:28.013 Now platinum spoken word Albums history. 0:12:28.093 --> 0:12:30.373 The first week of to speak during Milan Fashion Week 0:12:30.413 --> 0:12:34.893 of Philipply Paris Hilton super Bowl commercial this year featured 0:12:34.893 --> 0:12:38.293 in Super Bowl commercial. Last year, just did an Undermer 0:12:38.333 --> 0:12:43.573 commercial with Stephen Curry and King also received the Ambassador 0:12:43.613 --> 0:12:47.173 of Peace Award at Kingston, Jamaica. Spoken in Australia. And 0:12:47.293 --> 0:12:50.133 it all started by me telling my story in that 0:12:50.253 --> 0:12:54.253 high school. So when I tell people I realized this, 0:12:54.773 --> 0:12:59.333 I realized that God this whole time, the love that 0:12:59.413 --> 0:13:02.293 I had for my mother, it never really was my 0:13:02.453 --> 0:13:06.093 job to save her. You know, our job to save anyone. 0:13:05.853 --> 0:13:06.733 That's God's job. 0:13:07.173 --> 0:13:09.533 All our job is is to basically give our message 0:13:09.573 --> 0:13:11.653 and give our truth and help as many people as 0:13:11.693 --> 0:13:12.053 we can. 0:13:12.333 --> 0:13:14.293 But the person that can only truly get it done 0:13:14.493 --> 0:13:14.853 is God. 0:13:15.453 --> 0:13:19.373 And you know, he turned a kid from the projects 0:13:20.373 --> 0:13:22.853 into one of the you know, they say, one of 0:13:22.893 --> 0:13:26.493 the greatest young speakers of this generation. And one thing 0:13:26.573 --> 0:13:29.693 about my story then a lot of speakers, can you know? 0:13:29.773 --> 0:13:32.293 That separates me from a lot of speakers, is that 0:13:33.013 --> 0:13:36.933 when I speak, it's not that you hear me, they 0:13:37.093 --> 0:13:41.413 feel me, you know what I mean. And I just 0:13:41.533 --> 0:13:43.133 thank God for giving me this gift. 0:13:43.333 --> 0:13:46.373 I'm setting in a home. Man, I got home, I 0:13:46.453 --> 0:13:49.173 got a family, I got a wife, you know. 0:13:49.653 --> 0:13:52.373 And the best thing He's ever done for me is 0:13:52.493 --> 0:13:54.533 make me rich on the inside before he made me 0:13:54.653 --> 0:13:55.573 rich on the outside. 0:13:56.093 --> 0:13:58.973 And that's why I'm humble. That's why I look at 0:13:59.013 --> 0:14:01.293 myself as a grain of salt. On the ground. So 0:14:01.333 --> 0:14:03.013 I can never look down upon people. 0:14:03.413 --> 0:14:06.253 And I believe when you truly work for God, your 0:14:06.333 --> 0:14:08.093 promotions become everlasting. 0:14:08.693 --> 0:14:11.533 And now I'm an author. My book was I'm a 0:14:11.613 --> 0:14:12.893 self published author. 0:14:12.813 --> 0:14:18.133 Was putting Walmart, Barns and Nobles, Amazon Prime, It's a bestseller. 0:14:18.653 --> 0:14:24.533 And man, all I can say is, I can never 0:14:25.053 --> 0:14:29.413 it wasn't me. My story and my sacrifice was for 0:14:29.693 --> 0:14:32.813 all the time. Right now we're living in where kids 0:14:32.853 --> 0:14:36.853 are lost, women don't love themselves, young men don't know 0:14:36.933 --> 0:14:40.253 who they are, They don't know how to control their emotions. 0:14:41.133 --> 0:14:44.013 And I'm so grateful that I'm a speaker that can 0:14:44.093 --> 0:14:46.773 walk into any room and I don't care if you 0:14:46.853 --> 0:14:49.173 got murderers, the killers, the drug dealers. 0:14:49.613 --> 0:14:52.693 They feel me and I believe God gave me up 0:14:52.733 --> 0:14:55.733 my gift to motivate the individuals that thought motivation wasn't 0:14:55.733 --> 0:14:59.173 even real. And that's the blessing that I have. 0:14:59.373 --> 0:15:02.893 And I tell everybody when I was telling my speeches, 0:15:03.413 --> 0:15:05.733 when I was saying my speech, I was talking to 0:15:05.853 --> 0:15:10.493 myself king and the world simply was listening. And that's 0:15:10.533 --> 0:15:13.733 the only That's what I tell everybody, that I was 0:15:13.813 --> 0:15:16.693 talking to myself. I had to speak self life and 0:15:16.773 --> 0:15:17.973 to myself. 0:15:17.853 --> 0:15:19.333 To be the man that I am today. 0:15:19.693 --> 0:15:23.293 And that's why I got a passion of spreading this 0:15:23.373 --> 0:15:25.853 message all over the world. I got a passion of 0:15:25.933 --> 0:15:28.893 helping with mental health because I know my story is 0:15:28.973 --> 0:15:30.613 not a story that I'm just talking to you. 0:15:31.093 --> 0:15:33.013 I lived this. You know. 0:15:33.453 --> 0:15:36.773 This past Christmas day, my father and my father was 0:15:36.813 --> 0:15:40.893 released from prison after doing eight years. First time seeing 0:15:40.933 --> 0:15:44.213 me as a motivational speaker. I flew into Michigan, got 0:15:44.253 --> 0:15:47.653 to see him, got an airbnb. You know, we first 0:15:47.693 --> 0:15:49.573 got out of prison. They just want to eat all 0:15:49.653 --> 0:15:52.173 the new foods, introducing them the door dash. 0:15:52.413 --> 0:15:53.173 I'm feeding them. 0:15:54.093 --> 0:15:55.653 And the first time in my life, I saw my 0:15:55.733 --> 0:15:58.253 father as an old man. He's falling asleep. He's always 0:15:58.293 --> 0:16:02.413 been this big superman god to me. And I flew 0:16:02.493 --> 0:16:06.733 back home to Atlanta, and in eleven days after my 0:16:06.893 --> 0:16:10.133 son was born, he was murdered and left for dead 0:16:10.213 --> 0:16:14.413 in Detroit this past Christmas. So I lost my father, 0:16:14.573 --> 0:16:20.213 bro I lost my mother and all that pain that 0:16:20.333 --> 0:16:23.213 I had that will break a lot of meat uh 0:16:23.573 --> 0:16:24.133 and women. 0:16:24.413 --> 0:16:24.533 Uh. 0:16:25.693 --> 0:16:28.253 I believe that, you know, God just broke it full 0:16:28.253 --> 0:16:31.973 a circle that you know, he sacrificed himself for us, 0:16:32.933 --> 0:16:34.893 and they say we live in the limit the image 0:16:34.933 --> 0:16:37.373 and likeness of God, and a man's job on his 0:16:37.493 --> 0:16:40.893 earth to me is to sacrifice his life and sacrifice 0:16:40.973 --> 0:16:43.813 himself for the betterment of his family and the betterment 0:16:43.893 --> 0:16:46.333 of the young kings that's coming up from behind him. 0:16:46.813 --> 0:16:49.293 So it wasn't for me to go out and try 0:16:49.333 --> 0:16:51.613 to be this big celebrity. I just wanted to be 0:16:51.733 --> 0:16:54.813 a man that could just say I sacrifice God. I 0:16:55.013 --> 0:16:59.453 sacrifice everything to help your people and to keep love 0:16:59.813 --> 0:17:01.213 and God in people heart. 0:17:01.613 --> 0:17:04.173 So that that's my life king, and that that that's 0:17:04.213 --> 0:17:06.933 a I give all glory to the most. 0:17:06.773 --> 0:17:09.013 Hot man, all prices of mo hot for everything I 0:17:09.133 --> 0:17:11.933 got and even being able to be on this podcast 0:17:12.013 --> 0:17:12.573 with you, guys. 0:17:12.653 --> 0:17:15.253 Man, it's just a it's been a hell of a journey, man, 0:17:15.333 --> 0:17:18.613 but the pain was worth it. Well, it's cool. 0:17:18.773 --> 0:17:20.973 It's cool to hear you say that it's been a 0:17:21.133 --> 0:17:23.653 dream for you to be on our podcast because I 0:17:23.733 --> 0:17:26.693 look at you as a speaker, and I know Darren 0:17:26.693 --> 0:17:29.293 and I have talked about doing more of this speaking. 0:17:29.653 --> 0:17:32.133 Darren's not going to play football forever, so it's just 0:17:32.213 --> 0:17:34.853 cool for us to hear you say that it's a 0:17:34.933 --> 0:17:37.333 dream to be on our podcast when we see you 0:17:37.533 --> 0:17:41.973 just crushing it on the biggest stage and facing what 0:17:42.333 --> 0:17:44.973 for many people is their biggest fears, talking in front 0:17:45.013 --> 0:17:47.213 of a group, but not only talking in front of 0:17:47.253 --> 0:17:50.893 a group, but being able to deliver in a way 0:17:50.973 --> 0:17:53.813 that people can relate. And I think that's what I'm 0:17:53.893 --> 0:17:56.173 hearing in everything you're saying. And that's why I relate 0:17:56.213 --> 0:17:58.853 because I can feel I can feel you, and it's 0:17:58.933 --> 0:18:01.893 exactly why every piece of motivation that you give people, 0:18:02.293 --> 0:18:04.893 you're just talking to yourself, which is why it's why 0:18:04.973 --> 0:18:08.173 it's so relatable. I have a question for you regarding 0:18:08.813 --> 0:18:10.973 because I've heard you talk about how being broke as 0:18:10.973 --> 0:18:12.973 a mindset, it's not the lack of funds, it's the 0:18:13.093 --> 0:18:15.733 lack of belief. But what do you think right now, 0:18:16.013 --> 0:18:18.253 like in the world, what do you see is like 0:18:18.373 --> 0:18:22.533 the root cause or the commonality of people's broken down 0:18:22.693 --> 0:18:23.733 belief systems. 0:18:24.133 --> 0:18:24.573 Oh? 0:18:24.853 --> 0:18:29.493 Just I believe right now in the world, they killed 0:18:29.613 --> 0:18:33.573 every example that can teach us. If you watch the 0:18:33.653 --> 0:18:36.973 world man, all the great leaders that was trying to 0:18:37.133 --> 0:18:39.413 educate and teach us and put us in the right mindset. 0:18:39.853 --> 0:18:43.813 Some way, somehow, something happens soon. And now you have 0:18:43.893 --> 0:18:48.213 a generation of lost souls that now they believe that 0:18:49.693 --> 0:18:53.293 they believe fame and being in a light is more 0:18:53.333 --> 0:18:57.813 important than family. The woman believes that being a model 0:18:58.373 --> 0:19:01.293 is more important than being a mother. And you know, 0:19:01.733 --> 0:19:05.413 if you have a generation of children that that doesn't 0:19:05.493 --> 0:19:10.653 love themselves, that doesn't value their lives, that doesn't know 0:19:11.213 --> 0:19:14.533 where they started or where they come from, you will 0:19:14.613 --> 0:19:17.533 have a lost generation of people. And one thing I 0:19:17.653 --> 0:19:21.853 tell people, money is not the greatest thing you can have. 0:19:22.613 --> 0:19:25.533 Purpose is the greatest thing that you can have. So 0:19:25.613 --> 0:19:28.413 it's so many individuals in the world right now that's 0:19:28.453 --> 0:19:30.293 walking around with no purpose. 0:19:30.813 --> 0:19:32.333 They have no purpose for life. 0:19:32.413 --> 0:19:35.453 Man, And I tell everybody, once you find your purpose, 0:19:35.933 --> 0:19:39.133 it can heal all the pain of your life. Because 0:19:39.333 --> 0:19:42.573 what happens is individuals are going the wrong direction they 0:19:42.653 --> 0:19:44.933 whole life. King And this is when the mental health 0:19:44.973 --> 0:19:48.133 thing pops up. They're going the wrong direction their whole life. 0:19:48.333 --> 0:19:51.533 And when they realize that they when they finally realize 0:19:51.533 --> 0:19:53.653 they been going the wrong way their whole life. Whether 0:19:53.733 --> 0:19:55.653 you have to do in the DPS, you got to 0:19:55.693 --> 0:19:58.813 set your current destination to get to your final destination. 0:19:59.173 --> 0:20:01.613 And when people jump off the ledge and commit suicide. 0:20:01.853 --> 0:20:04.293